Deputy leadership loser wants change to voting system
ONE of Wales’ longest serving politicians, Cardiff North AM Julie Morgan, called for a change to internal Welsh Labour elections as she lost the party’s first-ever deputy leadership contest despite winning the most votes.
Mrs Morgan lost out to Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris because of Welsh Labour’s electoral college system which gives the entirety of the membership’s votes the same weight as the result from a ballot of MPs and AMs and the decisions made by unions and affiliates.
Nearly 20 years ago, her late husband Rhodri was initially beaten to the post of Wales’ then First Secretary by Alun Michael for the same reason, even though he had also won the most votes from party members.
She said Welsh Labour has to change its “undemocratic” voting system.
She said: “It frustrates me and upsets me. It’s the thought that he went through all that and was desperate for the job as leader and we’re still using the same system now that returns what is clearly not a democratic result.
“I am obviously disappointed not to have won but I am very pleased it was very close and of course the key issue is that I won the members’ vote.
“I overwhelmingly won that members’ vote.”
She took the majority of the members’ votes, with 65.2% of those members who voted selecting her.
“I want to make it clear that I knew these rules when I stood so I am accepting the result, it’s just that the campaign continues on my behalf to try to get one-member-one-vote.
“I think this takes that campaign a step further. I think there’s more hope now.
“I don’t feel down, I feel like I have won because it’s got the case for one-member-one-vote out there and very pleased that we did so well there.”